Day 49: 61 Miles

Kremmling, CO to Walden, CO

After going back and forth for the last couple of days, I woke up this morning and had to choose a route from Kremmling to Walden. I had heard good things about each route from a few cyclists and the locals at the bar were split on which route was better. Another cyclists who was staying at the same hotel as me had come from the shorter route and said it was great. Since there was no consensus, I opted for the shorter route and it did not disappoint. I’m sure the longer route would have been good as well, but this is a long trip and I’ll take a shortcut when it presents itself. I don’t really mind going off route because the first 1,000+ miles of my trip were not on the actual route. There are some purist who need to start in Virginia and end in Oregon and not deviate in any way. I am not one of those people.

I was out of the hotel around 6:00 AM and headed over to the Moose Cafe for breakfast. Today’s ride had no services so I needed to fill up and make sure I had food and water with me. I ordered a giant breakfast burrito and was back on my bike by 6:45. I needed to get an early start because the winds were supposed to pick up in the afternoon. When I started riding there were no winds detectable. I started up route 40 on what was supposed to be a climb. It was so gradual that I could barely detect it. I climbed from 7,300 feet to 8,700 feet in the first 25 miles and then in was mostly downhill the rest of the day.

Right around the half way point I met a cyclists going in the opposite direction. He was doing half of the trans am route, starting on the west coast and ending in Pueblo. We shared tips on places to stay for the next couple of days which was very helpful. I was planning to camp in the town park tonight, but heard that there were tons of mosquitoes and it was better to get a motel. A few of the guys I’ve met in the past weeks are all a day ahead now and camped in the park last night. I hope they didn’t suffer too much with all the bugs.

The rest of the ride went by quickly. There were two small climbs to deal with that were actually harder than the long climb in the morning. My legs have gotten used to Colorado though and I didn’t have any problems. I don’t know if the terrain has gotten easier or if I’m just in much better shape, but my legs have been responding much better to the hills lately. The next few days are relatively flat, but I’ve still got a few big passes to go over before the trip is done.

I arrived in Walden around 12:30 and stopped in at a place for lunch. The breakfast burrito did a really good job of fueling my ride today and I hadn’t eaten anything since 6:45 AM. The temperature was also cool enough that I only went through 2 bottles of water during the ride. The extra 2 liters of water never got touched. As soon as I got my sandwich and started eating, I realized I was much hungrier than my body had been telling me during the ride. I think the waitress also refilled my water 6 times. Next ride I’m going to have to force myself to eat and drink more, even if I’m not feeling hungry or thirsty.

After lunch I found a motel room and settled in. It gets hot during the day, so my routine has been to take a nap and rest a little right when I get done with riding. Once it cools off a bit I then head out to explore whatever town I’m in. Tonight I may be going back to the same restaurant I had lunch at. It looks like that may be the only thing open. Walden is about 22 miles from Wyoming, so tomorrow I’ll hit a new state. Colorado has been by far my favorite week of this trip. I’m hoping things continue this way as I head through Wyoming.